Kormac will be bringing his brand new show, Equivalent Exchange, with the Irish Chamber Orchestra to Electric Picnic, closing the Other Voices stage on Sunday. He’ll be joined on stage by Kormac’s Big Band, Loah, Shahab and Shayan Coohe, Jack O’ Rourke and Stephen James Smith.

Equivalent Exchange’s creative concept is a new departure for Kormac. He has relinquished the writing and creative processes he has practiced over the last few years to try a completely new approach, embracing his new orchestral training to discover a whole new way of working, with a chamber orchestra at his fingertips and a new sonic palette to explore. In 2017 Kormac decamped to Bulgaria to study under Europe’s leading composers, conductors and orchestrators to put himself firmly out of his comfort zone in order to break new musical ground.

The principle of ‘Equivalent Exchange’ states that in order to gain something new you must first sacrifice something of equal value. Kormac has applied this to his own writing process, forgoing his usual way of working but also in how he is working with the artists he is collaborating with for the show, bringing them songs and ideas at an earlier stage than he normally would. In this way, he is giving up his usual level of control over the songwriting, allowing the collaboration to develop something completely new.

Kormac debuted the show in March 2018 to a sold out Vicar Street with show visuals designed by leading Irish artist, Maser. It was the closing show of the St. Patrick’s Day Festival.